Wednesday, 19 April 2017

19 Apr: Evening ride to Hardwick

Nigel writes: It may be late April but it's still getting quite cold in the evenings, so I donned my winter windproof jacket before setting off to Brookside where I was joined by Alex and Sven. This spring we're trying our some new pub stops, and tonight was our first visit to The Blue Lion in Hardwick. To get there we started with a run up to Girton and then along the busway to Swavesey.

Sven and Alex were both up for a fast ride and I was happy to follow behind them for much of the way. After leaving the busway we continued to fenstanton before crossing the A14 and cutting back south along empty roads to Knapwell before a short final leg along the old St Neots Road to Hardwick.

We arrived at The Blue Lion just after 8pm, a few minutes after sunset. When we went in we found that the pub was very quiet. Instead of ordering drinks and food at the bar we were invited to sit down and receive table service. The staff were friendly and the food and drink, when they arrived, were entirely satisfactory. The food took quite a long time to arrive: it was probably just as well that we had arrived so early.

Relaxing after dinner

Afterwards we set off back to Cambridge, following the direct and very fast route down Madingley Hill. I arrived home at 10pm exactly, having cycled 54km (33 miles).Nigel Deakin